1. Field of Invention
The field of this invention relates to cleaning nozzles for use with vacuum cleaner hoses, and more specifically to the nozzle body that holds the nozzle tools for use.
2. Description of Prior Art
Ever since the vacuum cleaner hose was invented, vacuum nozzle attachments have been around. Various types of vacuum tools of were invented to do specific cleaning functions. Soon it became apparent that for floor cleaning tools, and other vacuum tools, a pivot joint on the vacuum nozzle attachment made it more versatile. With a pivot joint one could rotated the nozzle to a specific angle for cleaning. For floor tools this allowed the vacuum tool to more easily follow the floor surface. This allowed the user to angle the hose wand to the floor to get under a low lying furniture while keeping the cleaning tool flush against the floor. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,104,148 to Spencer, and others like it, show a vacuum tool with a pivot joint to change the apparent angle between an inserted hose wand and the cleaning portion of the vacuum nozzle tool. No prior art was found which incorporated vacuum tool attachment points on both ends of the pivot joint. All prior art shows only one end of the pivot joint body being designed for attachment of vacuum nozzle tools. The presented invention provides vacuum nozzle attachment on both ends of the pivot joint. All prior art vacuum cleaner pivot adaptors provide one end for attachment of a vacuum cleaner hose wand, and the other end for attachment to a vacuum tool. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,974 to Ragner, and others like it, show a vacuum adaptor (or pivot body) with a pivot joint between its two ends: 1) a vacuum tool end, and 2) a vacuum hose wand end. No prior art was found that showed a vacuum pivot body with both ends being designed to accept both a vacuum tool and a vacuum hose wand at the same time and/or alternately. The ability to attach the hose wand to both ends of the pivot body is critical to the disclosed inventions application, as is, the ability to attach vacuum nozzles to both ends. Multi-function vacuum nozzles do exist, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,108,311 to House, and others like it, that are designed to provide both ends of the nozzle body with a hose wand port and a vacuum tool port. Also, additional ports have been demonstrated by the three port design shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,870 to Ragner, where the nozzle body has two ports that accept a vacuum hose and two ports that have cleaning tools on them, with only one port that has both hose wand and vacuum tool attachment capabilities. None of these prior arts, however, suggest or show a pivot joint that would be beneficial for the operation of their device. The addition of a pivot joint on a two-ended multi-function vacuum tool, provides the desirable benefit of a pivot joint for both ends of the vacuum tool while only requiring a single pivot joint.